Androgen action during male sex differentiation includes suppression of cranial suspensory ligament development

Human Reproduction
J M EmmenA O Brinkmann

Abstract

The cranial suspensory ligament is located on the border of the cranial (mesonephric) mesentery in adult female mammals, which runs between the cranial pole of the internal genitalia and the dorsal abdominal wall. Absence of the cranial suspensory ligament in male mammals depends upon exposure of its primordium to fetal testicular androgens and is a prerequisite for testis descent. Female rats were exposed to 5alpha-dihydrotestosterone propionate at different stages of genital development, and cranial suspensory ligament development was studied in neonatal and in adult animals. Androgens suppressed cranial suspensory ligament development when exposure started during the early stages of genital development, until day 19 postconception (pc). Androgen receptor expression was immunohistochemically detected in the cranial mesentery of both sexes from day 16 pc onwards. A decrease of androgen receptor expression in female fetuses from day 18 pc onwards coincided with the appearance of a differentiated cranial suspensory ligament, as evidenced by the expression of two cell differentiation markers: alpha-smooth muscle (alpha-SM) actin and desmin. alpha-SM actin was located on the outer border of the cranial mesentery of both sexes at d...Continue Reading

Citations

Mar 15, 2000·Molecular and Cellular Endocrinology·I M AdhamW Engel
Jun 10, 2005·Biology of Reproduction·Christophe StaubBernard Jégou
Mar 17, 2007·Molecular and Cellular Endocrinology·Jorma ToppariNiels E Skakkebaek
Aug 13, 2011·European Journal of Obstetrics, Gynecology, and Reproductive Biology·Pedro AciénMaribel Acién
Sep 7, 2005·Cell·Annette HammesThomas E Willnow
Jan 25, 2014·General and Comparative Endocrinology·Kristy M LongpreAndrzej Z Pietrzykowski
Nov 20, 2013·Frontiers in Neuroendocrinology·Robert J Handa, Michael J Weiser
Jul 19, 2001·Endocrinology·I A Hughes
May 13, 1999·Molecular Endocrinology·S ZimmermannI M Adham
Oct 1, 2021·Journal of Anatomy·Sawa OnouchiYasuro Atoji

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